1. Technical Field
The present invention relates broadly to batteries, and more particularly to a battery update system used to update software in programmable battery units that may be used in various types of electronic devices.
2. Related Art
Almost all portable electronic devices use rechargeable batteries to power the devices so that they are portable. These batteries are very complex and often include software that is typically stored in a memory device located on a printed circuit board inside the battery. The software may be used to monitor and control charging of the battery as well as certain functionality when the battery is connected to a respective electronic device. For example, the software located on the battery may communicate with the electronic device to allow the electronic device to know how much charge is remaining on the battery. The charge level indication may then be communicated to a user of the electronic device through a display of the electronic device in the form of a charge bar or a minutes remaining indication.
Various manufacturers of electronic devices that use these batteries make improvements to these electronic devices each year or come out with new electronic devices each year that may use the same type of battery. However, the software of existing batteries may not be compatible with the new electronic devices. As such, battery manufacturers need to reprogram the batteries to be compatible with new devices. Currently, the batteries are reprogrammed by shipping the batteries back from the store in which they may be located to the manufacturer where they are disassembled and new printed circuit boards are placed in the batteries with updated software. As readily apparent, the costs associated with shipping these batteries back to the manufacturer and replacing existing printed circuit boards with new printed circuit boards having updated software is extremely expensive.
As such, a need exists for a portable handheld update device and batteries that are designed to be quickly and easily reprogrammed in the field without requiring the need to ship the batteries back to the manufacturer for disassembly.